Roy Hodgson believes playing at St James' Park will be much like a game at Selhurst Park.

Crystal Palace make the long trip to the north east tomorrow ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash.

And Hodgson is relishing the atmosphere of a game at St James' Park.

He said: "They’re a good footballing team. I watched them at Southampton and they were every bit as good as I expected. They are a well organised team with a clear idea of what they want to do with and without the ball.

"Playing at Newcastle is like coming to Selhurst Park; it’s a fanatical atmosphere, the support is as good as we benefit from. It’s always a chore or a challenge going up there, however well they are playing.

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"At the moment they’ve had a very good start, a deserved start because they play good football, and we have to give exactly the same performance that we did against Chelsea."

The former England boss praised manager Rafa Benitez too.

He added: "He's doing very well. He's done well to almost save them when he came in as the saviour, he stayed with the club and spent a whole season in the Championship honing the team and bringing them up again as champions into the Premier League and then they've had a great start.

"The fans there love him, the players obviously like and respect him. When you watch the team play you can see it's a team which has obviously had some work done on it. They know what they are doing the players. For me as a fellow coach I can only say congratulations on a good job of work."

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